Pixel 11 launches tomorrow night: 4 Devices, Specs and Prices

Google is launching the Pixel 11 tomorrow, Wednesday 12 August, at an event in New York. The keynote will start at 6pm Eastern Time, which is 1am on Thursday morning here in Kenya. As usual the live stream will be on Google’s official YouTube channel.

Pixel gets Android updates first, and it is the phone Google uses each August to show what it wants Android to do next. In recent years, Google has been really bad at hiding the device. So we’ve already seen lots of leaks and confirmations directly from Google.

As the event draws near, we’ve seen publications detail the full specs of the phones being launched, together with expected prices in the US. And even full on marketing images. While none of it is official until Google says so on stage, going with history and track record of leakers, the images, and the information is without a doubt 100% real.

The line-up and prices

We expect a total of four phones, all using Google’s new Tensor G6 processor with a Titan M3 security chip:

• Pixel 11: 6.3-inch OLED, 48MP main and 13MP ultrawide cameras, 4,985mAh battery, from $899
• Pixel 11 Pro: 6.3-inch LTPO OLED at 3,600 nits, 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 5x periscope, from $1,099
• Pixel 11 Pro XL: 6.8-inch LTPO OLED, same cameras as the Pro, 5,115mAh battery, 45W charging, from $1,299
• Pixel 11 Pro Fold: 8-inch inner screen, 6.4-inch cover screen, from $1,899

Every one of those prices is $100 above the equivalent Pixel 10. At today’s rate of about KES 129 to the dollar, $899 is roughly KES 116,000 before shipping, duty and importer margins, so expect Nairobi asking prices well above that.

The rise is not a surprise. AI data centres have pushed up the price of the memory chips phones need, and we have been tracking that squeeze since it started.

RAM and Storage

We’d wondered back in July if the new Pixels will face any issues with RAM or storage.

First: Gemini Intelligence requires at least 12GB of RAM, and we asked in May whether the cheapest Pixel 11 would meet Google’s own bar. Per the leak, it does. Every Pixel 11 model ships with 12GB or 16GB. No 8GB configuration exists.

Second: The leak lists 256GB as the smallest option on every model. The 128GB tier is gone, which is the quiet half of the price rise: the cheapest Pixel 11 costs $100 more than the cheapest Pixel 10 and also carries double the storage you may not have asked for.

But there’s a downgrade

The base Pixel 11 has two rear cameras: a 48MP main and a 13MP ultrawide. The telephoto lens is gone.

Last year, the 5x telephoto on the base model was the Pixel 10’s main selling point over the Pixel 9, and Google built its advertising around it. If leaks are right, that lens lasted one generation on the cheap model, and anyone who wants optical zoom now starts at $1,099 for the Pro. The leak says the base phone has 30x Super Zoom instead, which is digital zoom with software cleanup.

Tensor G6

The Tensor G6 is reportedly built on TSMC’s 2nm process, which would make it the first phone chip on that node, ahead of Apple’s next iPhone by about a month, and followed by the upcoming Snapdragon processor. Smaller transistors usually mean better battery life and less heat, and Tensor chips have needed both.

There’s talk of a MediaTek modem reportedly replacing the Samsung one. That has been another sore point on past Pixels.

More to expect:

1. We will be getting an explanation on the small colour-shifting light in Google’s own teaser video, which leaks call Pixel Glow.
2. A Pixel Watch 5 is expected alongside the phones.

If you are in Kenya

Google still does not sell Pixels here. No store, no local warranty, no service centre. Safaricom’s Masoko pulled the brand off its site in May, so the phones arrive through independent importers. The warranty gap has real cost: Google spent months this year replacing phones hit by a bootloop fault across the Pixel 6 through Pixel 10, but only for owners in countries it supports.

So the date that matters for most Kenyan buyers is not 12 August, it is the weeks after when the phones start arriving. See you after the launch.